Data Tools How-To – Page 7
How to use the public datasets and maps that planning applications rely on.
Data Tools How-To articles – page 7
159 articlesSource protection zones and what they mean for drainage
A site in an inner source protection zone cannot rely on soakaways for anything but clean roof water. Check the zone before the drainage strategy is drawn.
Checking coalfield referral areas before you fix a layout
A shaft under a plot moves buildings, not foundations. Check the coalfield referral status at appraisal, before the layout hardens around something that cannot be built on.
Using the BGS GeoIndex for borehole and ground data
The British Geological Survey publishes free onshore mapping and scanned borehole records. Used properly they shape a desk study, a soakaway design and a foundation budget.
Reading Defra background pollutant maps for an assessment
The background maps are the baseline for most air quality work. Two recurring errors are the wrong grid square and counting a modelled road twice.
Finding the Air Quality Management Area boundary for a site
Every Air Quality Management Area is declared by its own order naming a pollutant and an objective. Find the order before you commission an assessment.
Using the ancient woodland inventory before a layout is drawn
Ancient woodland is irreplaceable habitat and the standing advice buffer starts at 15 metres. Plot it before the masterplan, not after it has been priced.
Checking whether a site is on a brownfield land register
Brownfield land registers are published as open data under the 2017 Regulations. Part 1 records land the council considers suitable for housing, while a Part 2 entry grants permission in principle.
Finding the Green Belt boundary for a site
National policy says what Green Belt is for. Local plans draw the lines. The adopted policies map is the authoritative source, and everything else is a convenience.
Checking Article 4 directions in the national dataset
The national planning data service publishes Article 4 directions and their boundaries, but the direction document and the local land charges search are the legal record. Both matter before you buy.
Finding conservation area boundaries in the national dataset
The national dataset is the fastest way to check a conservation area boundary. The council's designation map is the legal one, and on a boundary property that matters.
Reading a list entry on the National Heritage List
A list entry tells you the grade, the date and what the inspector saw. It does not tell you what is protected, because listing covers the whole building.
Using MAGIC to check designations around a site
Twenty minutes on the Defra MAGIC map tells you which statutory designations touch your site, and which datasets you still have to check somewhere else.
Finding the right climate change allowance for a catchment
Every climate change figure in a flood risk assessment should trace back to a named table on a stated date. Here is how to find the catchment, epoch and band.
Checking surface water flood risk on the long term service
Surface water risk never appears on the Flood Map for Planning. Here is how to read the bands, get the depth and velocity layers, and use the result in a householder drainage statement.
Reading the Flood Map for Planning and what it leaves out
Flood Zones assume no defences exist and say nothing about surface water. How to read the Environment Agency map at plot scale, and what evidence to request next.
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